Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Calibrachoa procumbens cultivar Kiecared.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant, botanically known as Calibrachoa procumbens, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Kiecared.
The new Calibrachoa is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Venhuizen, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new trailing Calibrachoas with numerous flowers with attractive flower colors.
The new Calibrachoa originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor during the summer of 1999 of a proprietary Calibrachoa selection identified as K145/97, not patented, as the female, or seed parent, with a proprietary Calibrachoa selection identified as K141/97, not patented, as the male, or pollen parent. The new Calibrachoa was selected as a single flowering plant from the resulting progeny by the Inventor in a controlled environment in 1999 in Venhuizen, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Venhuizen, The Netherlands since 1999 has shown that the unique features of this new Calibrachoa are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Kiecared have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Kiecaredxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Kiecaredxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Uniform, outwardly spreading, mounded and trailing plant habit.
2. Freely and continuous branching habit; dense and bushy plant growth habit.
3. Freely flowering habit, numerous red-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Calibrachoa differ from the female parent in plant growth habit as plants of the female parent are not as trailing as plants of the new Calibrachoa. Plants of the new Calibrachoa differ from the male parent primarily in flower color as plants of the male parent have dark salmon-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Calibrachoa can be compared to plants of the Calibrachoa cultivar Carillon Carmine, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Venhuizen, The Netherlands, plants of the new Calibrachoa differed from plants of the cultIvar Carillon Carmine in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Calibrachoa flowered more continuously than plants of the cultivar Carillon Carmine.
2. Plants of the new Calibrachoa had red-colored flowers that resisted fading whereas plants of the cultivar Carillon Carmine had carmine-colored flowers that faded with development.